The new Salvia cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Michael Uchneat in Bellefonte, Pa. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Salvia splendens varieties with large, upright plant habits in a range of flower colors and persistent calyces. The self-pollination resulting in this new variety was made during June of 2013.
The parent variety is an unpatented, proprietary, Salvia splendens referred to as ‘28744-1’. This parent variety was self-pollinated and the resulting seed collected. Seed collected from this self-pollination was grown out, with the result of a variety of flower colors and plant sizes observed among the seedling population. The new variety was identified as a potentially interesting selection, from this seedling population in August 2014, at a greenhouse in Bellefonte, Pa.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘SGRRE04-1’ by vegetative cuttings was first performed during August of 2014, at a research greenhouse in Bellefonte, Pa. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.